The afternoon was slowly turning into evening. The nip in the air was getting sharper when we reached the premises of Desi Vidya Samsthe, the music school run by the well-known music composer, Hamsalekha. In the narrow compound, you could see several eager parents with dreams in their eyes about their child making it to the next reality show, as they listened to the voices wafting from inside: it was a class in sarale varase , the teacher and students chased different musical destinations. Yet, the class went on. A couple of minutes had transpired. A gentleman arrived, followed by a few others, we shook hands, in hushed tones they whispered anxiously to each other, turning to me, the gentleman said: ‘Sir, is ready to meet, come inside.’ The stage had been set, the aura had been created – we were to meet a celebrity: the composer who had been in the industry for three decades with 250-odd films, Naada Brahma Hamsalekha, as he is referred to.
More theatre followed, after all we were meeting a man who had his roots in drama. With a magisterial bearing the composer walked to his chair. A contingent of volunteers had arrived. All of us stood outside the office door till we received permission to enter. More hushed tones – this time with the composer himself. With a not-so-sure smile, Hamsalekha directed us where to sit. “So many? Who are all these people?” he asked, suppressing his displeasure. “Our volunteers,” the gentleman meekly said. In a wee bit, ‘you can begin’, I was told. I wanted him to explain to me the phenomenon of Kannada company theatre, the contribution of which to Kannada cinema is immense – Rajkumar, B.V. Karanth, Vasudev Rao, Narasimha Raju... so many of them. “I’m here only to answer questions on M Fest and KIMA awards for which I am the brand ambassador. There is information on me on Google about my past,” he said wryly, even before he had heard out the question properly.
Are all music tunes – that were composed and are being composed – original and located in the present? Do they have no connection with the past? Tunes are an offshoot of something that has already been created, and aren’t we eternally trying to understand these phenomena of creation and transformation? Hmmm. But, I was already into the ‘performance’, plus we had a good number in the audience, so asking the journalistic Gods to be witness was the only possibility before me. We carried on with the conversation in whatever way it was possible.
Excerpts:
M Fest 2019 is a platform for everything that constitutes the ‘modern’ idea of music. You are someone who propounds Desi ideology, that is the native sound. How do you bridge these two diverse ideas?
It is the first time that I am a brand ambassador for something. I decided to take this up because we have to think of harmony, Swara Samarasya . Theatre taught me this. These youngsters who have devised the M Fest are aware of the music genres that are bringing fame and money. All this while it was happening in other states, now it is happening in Karnataka, and is a good sign. We will be opening many conversations and debates through such a platform. See, what KGF has done… it has opened up a huge business proposition. We have to think beyond our borders. They have included all the genres, and that is a good beginning.
How will you use this platform to take forward your ideas?
We have to preserve folk in its authenticity. Else folk will become fake. My school has been striving to create a platform for folk. We have been thinking and devising curriculum for what folk of the future should be. I will use this platform to explain my ideas and design future folk. We have to prepare technicians who can think and ideate suitably. Cinema is a huge medium and it is the best way to establish folk. Like Pro-Kabbaddi, my idea is to lift folk in a big way and propagate it.
Folk has been merely used as an exotic element in recent films. One could say, it only has cosmetic value.
When K. Vishwanath made the film, Shankarabharanam , he wanted to bring back Carnatic classical music to mainstream. It’s popularity was waning in those days. They did not use a classical voice like Balamurali Krishna, but used S.P. Balasubramaniam instead. It was intentional. Musicians scoffed at the populistic interpretation of the Carnatic form. In fact, when K.V. Mahadevan, the music composer and SPB the singer, both got national awards, they were surprised. Apparently, KV Mahadevan even said: “ Ethaneyo apaswarangalirrukkume, idakk national award kudithittangala?!” It is not that they did not know, but there was a purpose to it. It became a huge hit with the masses, and the next two decades Carnatic classes were running full.
Between all the dissonances, Shankarabharanam did bring a major shift.
Gazi Khan of Nimbuda Nimbuda fame, had to go to court for Intellectual Copyrights violation. The industry was absolutely insensitive both to the art and artiste.
These dangers are there. The folk musicians are very innocent, they have no awareness of how this world functions. We however, want to create a language and curriculum for the future.
We have to set aside our ideologies, and first generate enthusiasm. Since everyone is in a hurry to finish, we also offer short term courses in our school.
I remember Ilaiyaraja sir saying how his grandchildren composed a song by stitching together tunes available in the tune bank. ‘They think it is very easy to compose music,’ he had said. This is the age of auto generate tunes. How does one cope in such an environment.
Life will teach. But one thing, a legend in the making always thinks differently. They will not even look at instant food. During my days, we did not know how to project ourselves. So it was with Raja sir. His music was God to him.
When I came in, there was a huge vacuum, there was no one. I had to be lyricist, music composer, arranger everything. I brought in so many people to the industry. Today, we have an abundance. In a way, I am not bothered about what they are doing. What makes me happy is that there are so many people working in every department.
The industry has grown, awareness towards regional language has heightened, we are capable of fighting the monolithic Hindi culture, and such festivals will generate more interest. It will slowly turn towards quality in the days to come.
Isn’t it ironic that we speak of countering monolithic Hindi culture but use only voices like Shreya Goshal, Sonu Nigam and Kailash Kher for every other film?
Don’t worry about it. Watch reality shows, all the native talent is there. It is cinema’s misfortune that they are not using our own voices. When films are so hero centric, and directors are dancing to the tunes of the hero, where is the Kannada voice or song? If Rajkumar or Puttanna have to come back again, we have to wait for a long time.
The working style is so different today. When Mani Ratnam worked with Ilaiyaraja, he was young and bursting with ideas.
Ilaiyaraja felt Mani Ratnam was trying to shake him out of his comfort zone. Since Mani Ratnam was looking for modern tones he found Rahman. There is a whole difference in the sensibilities – one is spiritual and intense, the other is hyperactive and dynamic. Technology has changed the way we think about music. Those days it was impossible to make even a small correction.. When I listen to my compositions from those days, I see so many mistakes. Today technology can do anything.
Even with all the advancement, we have not been able to produce great songs like in the past.
What do we do? If take the analogy of a dog, the tail should not control the dog, the dog must take control of the tail. I fear greater dangers in future.
